Since creating the initial thread and the mockup, another idea occurred to me.
Make the map HALF the size it is now, reserve the entire bottom half of the screen as a “console” of sorts, basically the virtual equivalent of a Stream Deck controller people have been building themselves.
Offer a toggle in settings for “basic” versus “advanced” mode. In the former, you get default buttons. In advanced mode, you can edit, much like you can on Android when configuring buttons to appear on the swipe down panel, or on various popup keyboards. (GBoard, Microsoft SwiftKey etc) Alternately, just make advanced the default - people can leave buttons alone or edit as they see fit.
Make the button panel height configurable, scaling the map accordingly, and allowing more or fewer rows of buttons.
I’d also like the map to behave similarly to the mini-map in game: tapping it zooms but there’s an orthographic mode that angles it to look ahead slightly.